Crossword Genius

Washed lance off, and keys (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cleaned

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'washed' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'lance off and keys' is the wordplay.
'off' indicates an anagram.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'keys' becomes 'ed' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'lance' with letters rearranged gives 'clean'.
'clean'+'ed'='CLEANED'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cleaned that I've seen before include "Refined" , "Freed from dirt" , "Washed" , "wiped" , "Made free of dirt" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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